Fusion
by spikesamoradora
Summary: A plan to defeat the ultimate enemy will require the ultimate sacrifice from a hero thought to be dead.
1. Chapter 1

The world swirled around them and then Danny and his friends and family were sucked through the vortex into the future decimated world.

"Why did you send us -" he urgently asked Clockwork, only to find that the time-keeper was nowhere to be found.

He looked around at the others helplessly. "This can't be good," he said. "This really can't be good. How did we end up back here?"

"I brought you here," a female voice said resolutely. The group of them turned to face the speaker, and gasped.

"Dani," squeaked Danny in complete shock as he beheld the adult version of his young female clone.

"Who are you," gasped Maddie, noting with startling clarity how the woman who had spoken looked so much like her son.

"I'm … Danny's… sister of sorts," she said wryly to her progenitor's mother. "Maybe daughter is a better word. Danny is my progenitor."

"You're a clone," gasped Maddie.

"Yes. Vlad created me," she said, as bitterness entered her voice. "And then… he tried to use me to harm Danny. Danny, in turn, offered me kindness and love. The choice over who to side with wasn't really all that difficult in the end."

"Dani… what's going on here," Danny interrupted, seeing that his mother had that dogged expression on her face that indicated more questions were soon to come.

"I brought you here to stop… the creature that goes by the name 'Dan Phantom'."

"We did stop him. He's in the thermos. Why can't we just keep him in there," asked Danny naively.

"Dan may no longer be Danny Fenton, but he has his memories. You watched your father building a lot of his devices, and subconsciously you absorbed a lot of the information about how he built the thermoses. Dan tapped into those memories and has learned how to escape from them. It's only a matter of time before he gets out. Personally I'd give him at most a week in there, and I think that's being… generous, if you can call it that. Clockwork can't keep him out of time. It would be disastrous if Dan was able to interact with the time stream. He belongs here."

"Then he can't be stopped," said Danny dejectedly. "Right? Is that what you're telling me – that he really is inevitable?"

"He's… a reality for us. But not for you. Danny… every time a decision is made, a universe is created. My reality is not the same as yours. "

"Then why am I here? Why are any of us here… I can't stop him… nobody here can stop him. He doesn't have my feelings… he doesn't care about any of the people that I love – I don't see how putting my family and friends in danger is going to help in any material way…"

"I'm hoping that seeing you… seeing all of you – remembering the days when life was good – well – I'm hoping that you'll give inspiration where it's needed the most. There are people who have invented the wherewithal to stop him… but when the time comes, they are going to need more than inventions to make it work."

"People… who do you mean?"

"Danny, what do you think happened to your human half?"

He shuddered. "Vlad wouldn't tell me. Said it was too horrible. I got the distinct impression that my ghost killed him. Um. Killed… me. My ghost merged with Plasmius, that is."

Maddie flinched at the idea of her baby at the mercy of something as evil as 'Dan' Phantom.

"Your ghost half isn't… really a separate entity," said Dani. "Neither is mine. But merged with Plasmius, it became something horrible. Plasmius told the story wrong. He pulled his own ghost half out first. And it went and took Danny's out. They merged, and became filled with hate for both their human halves… Danny's ghost hated Vlad, and Vlad's ghost hated Danny. In the end, there was no human … soul… if you will, to contain the combined malevolence. I don't think your ghost on its own would intrinsically be harmful, but combining it with his was the catalyst."

"What are you trying to say?"

"I'm trying to… let you rest easy a bit. I don't think your ghost half would kill you, given the chance. I really don't."

"I… never really thought it would either," he said. "I've been separated before, and mostly he just got all annoyingly heroic."

She smirked at that. "Sounds like a really great story there, but the time for stories is past. I need to tell you the rest so you can help me with the next step of my plan."

"I'm… not sure I'm going to help you. Not if it means putting my loved ones in danger," he said worriedly. "But go on."

"Dan's human half isn't dead."

"What? But – you just said –"

"Right before the attack, I phased him out of there. I did it without being detected, and _he_ wasn't any wiser, given that the attack wouldn't have – uh – left anything behind."

Maddie cried out at that in horror.

"I know, Maddie," she said gently. "It's horrible to even imagine. But remember… he escaped that fate. He's alive."

"So there's a future fully-human version of Danny who exists in this universe," asked Jazz.

"Yes."

"Where is he? What is he doing while … this monster wreaks such devastating havoc," asked Lancer. "It's been ten years, right? He's been in hiding? That really doesn't sound like you, Danny – not the way you've taken on the mantle of Amity's hero –"

Danny looked intently at his teacher for the first time since revealing his true nature. "Thanks, Mr. Lancer."

"Danny is a shell of who he was," said Dani. "Remember… he thinks his family – he thinks everyone he loved are all dead. He knows he's useless up against Phantom and he's lost all will to fight. Frankly, it's only my presence in his life, I think, that gives him the impetus not to kill himself. He lives a secluded life. He plays games… writes a lot – he's an incredible writer… but his days of ghost fighting are behind him. He can't really go out, because if Phantom ever saw him – he'd know who he was… and Danny would be dead."

"You said he thinks that the ones he loved are dead. Does that mean our future selves are still living," asked Maddie perceptively.

"Good catch. All of you are alive. They all live together… and they work together – building a weapon which will merge a human to a ghost – kind of the reverse of what was done originally to Vlad and Danny. I work alongside them."

Jazz gasped in horror.

"And Danny doesn't know that they are alive?"

"If he knew… it could be dangerous. Very dangerous. Danny hardly lives at all right now… he hardly gives off any real energy. But if he knew his family were alive, he would be different… he would make different choices. These choices might take him out into the public to try to continue his assumed role as Amity's hero. He would have something to fight for. And … with Sam – he would have someone to love."

Danny and Sam looked at each other in startled embarrassment.

"I'm sorry to be so blunt… but you both know it's there, even if you haven't been ready to admit it. I realize you're very young, but I don't have time to mince words. Sam and… all of you really – you are all as much responsible for Danny Phantom as Danny. And I don't mean the evil one – I mean the hero. Maddie and Jack – your example over the years has instilled within him a hero complex. It did the same to Jazz – as you well know. And the friends he has – they give him the warmth and acceptance of a tightly interconnected and highly effective team. With all of that in his life, how could he not go out and try to make things right? In doing so, he would endanger the future because then, Dan would know that everyone had survived. Furthermore, he would be able to detect Danny's presence from the energy that Danny would give off, since he would be buzzing with the electricity of being alive and feeling a part of things."

"So you're saying that having Danny depressed and suicidal is an important part of your plan," said Sam angrily. "That's downright cruel, Dani. Seems the apple didn't fall far from the cloner."

"And you want to force Danny and that… monster… to become one again," breathed Jazz in horror. "That's… that's not fair – he doesn't deserve that burden."

"No. He doesn't. But he owns it none-the-less. Jazz, I understand your feelings. He's… he's my brother too. But – it's our only hope. The only way to stop this monster is to bring him back together with his human half."

"So our other selves are working on a device which will plunge someone we love into a lifetime of horror and guilt," asked Maddie in horror. "Even to save the world, how could we do that to someone we love so desperately?"

"They don't know that Danny is alive. All they know is that someone will have to join to the ghost to stop him. Maybe each imagines themselves as the … victim. Kind of self-sacrifice of sorts. Does that make you feel any better?"

"Is it truth, or are you saying it to make me hate my other self any less," hissed Maddie.

"It's the truth." Her blue piercing gaze looked deep into Maddie's eyes. Uncomfortably, Maddie looked away. This would-be daughter made her feel things that she didn't know how to handle right now.

"You've … played… god," said Sam, choking with tears.

"I had to," she answered hoarsely. "I had no choice. I had to stop that monster from destroying everything and everyone. And this was the only way I could think of doing it."

"Like Vlad," hissed Jazz. "Playing your little cruel games and experiments and justifying it in your mind as being good for the world."

"I suppose… you might see it that way," she said sadly. "But –"

"It's not cruelty," said Danny, sticking up for Dani despite the deep hurt he saw in Jazz's eyes that he was choosing his other sister over her. "It's… simply what she had to do. I can see she gets no joy from the choices she's made."

"You said he was suicidal," Jazz refused to back down from her stance. "You let my brother languish in pain for ten years –"

"He's not your brother."

"It doesn't matter-"

"I'm sure when it's all over; I'll pay for what I did. I'll pay … I'll lose the … family I've gained," she said, her voice catching as she knew it to be true. The close bond she'd formed with her own versions of Maddie, Jack, Jazz and the rest would forever be severed. Danny would forever loathe her. But she had done it to save her world, and she knew given a chance to make the decisions over again, she wouldn't change a thing.

"Jazz, please," Danny said, picking up his clone-sister's anguish like a beacon. "She did what she had to do."

"So why do you need us here. Really," asked Tucker. "Your planning on using Danny as the muscle, aren't you? If nobody is willing to go on with your plan, you're hoping to convince Danny to use his powers to make it happen-"

"No. I have no doubt that Danny… my Danny… will do it. "

"But maybe his family won't let him."

"This can't be – it has to be his choice. And he will make it happen. If he's the man I know him to be, he will make it happen. Brute force is not going to be the answer here. If I wanted to use brute force, I'm powerful enough to do it myself. Remember, I'm Danny's clone, and I've been well stabilized."

"Then why can't you stop this monster –"

"He's more powerful than any ghost or halfa," she said. "He's something completely unique at this point, and I would never dare to recreate the experiment by removing my own ghost from my human self."

"So you're going to present this horrible plan to Danny, knowing full well that he'll willingly live with an evil presence in his mind –"

"We will remove Vlad's ghost from Danny's once we do it. With Danny in control, we will be able to subdue the will of the malevolent mind."

"So Danny won't have murderous impulses?"

"I… don't think so. But he will have all the memories of murder… and – it's not clear if he'll be able to stand all that without going insane."

"But then he'll be more killable," said Jack. "Right? You can't kill 'Dan', but Danny … you have his powers… you and the rest of the ghost hunters in this world could probably take him out."

"Yes… "

"And I'm sure you thought of that already," said Jazz angrily.

"And we will make clear to Danny that that's a risk… if Danny goes insane and becomes a threat, he will have to die. And Danny will have full disclosure on that issue before we do anything."

"What if he refuses?"

"He won't."

"You're so sure."

"Would you," she said, looking at the younger Danny.

"No. I wouldn't," he said. "Because I know the whole thing would have been my fault –"

"How is any of this your fault – "

"This isn't my fault. But it's his. Danny's. Human Danny's."

"It absolutely is not his –"

"Sam. If he hadn't tried to fix the portal –"

"Then that's our fault," wailed Maddie.

"Mine," said Jack. "I'm the one who built it wrong."

"Not yours. Mine." Green eyes looked at his father's resolutely. "I did wrong. And then Danny chose to cheat. He chose to go to Vlad knowing full well that the odds of his surviving Vlad were almost nil. He did this as an act of suicide. Even I can see that. His own unwillingness to face a bleak life led the world to it's worst nightmare."

"If he had the hindsight you have," said Tucker. "I'm sure he wouldn't have done it –"

"I'm not saying he should be hated or reviled. He's had his share of that," said Danny, making Maddie and Jack flinch at the realization that that was what they had been doing to their son since the accident. "But… this is the result of his actions nonetheless, and it's his to fix. I'm sorry – I know he'll see it the same way – no matter what risk to his own future."

"I refuse to have any part in this," said Maddie. "I won't contribute to torturing a variation of my son."

"Then I will happily send you home," she said. "I just thought that … your son could use your moral support –"

"Please, young lady, I hardly need you to give me a guilt trip."

"None of this is important anymore," said Danny. "It's time to act… isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Then what's the next step?"

"Let's go talk to Danny."


	2. Danny

Danni pulled out something that looked like frostbite's map.

"This will take us to Danny… I won't reveal your presence, however. I need to tell him … things… and it would be easier if he didn't know you were here yet."

"Kind of feels wrong," said Danny. "Like spying."

Maddie looked at her son with pride. _He's a good boy, this one._

"It is wrong. All of this is wrong," said Dani. "But … it's a means to an end which will be more right than what we have now. I am under no illusions that Danny won't ultimately be harmed by all this."

Maddie flinched. "He's… my son," she said. "This really hurts."

"Without the fusion, Danny will always have to live in seclusion. His life will always be at risk. And the monster that tried to kill him will come after him if he knows he's alive. He won't be kind. It's best to balance out those two futures. At least with control over his ghost, Danny can live amongst people again. Right now, his life is solitary confinement. That's really no way to live."

She saw the reactions on the faces of those who loved Danny. They all were hurt by what she said, tears evident in their eyes.

"So can we go do this," she asked softly, waiting for their assent.

"Let's do it," said Danny. "I know I wouldn't want to live the way he's living."

"You can talk and move around - this map makes it possible for us to travel anywhere on earth, and it keeps an envelope of sorts around your existence. You see each other, and I can make it so you see him… but he won't see you."

A flash of light, and they found themselves in a different location altogether.

Tucker mouthed amazement and pointed at the map. All he could think of was that they had invented a transporter beam.

Dani smiled and pointed at Jazz. Tucker looked at her with an expression akin to awe and heroine-worship. Jazz smiled uncomfortably at him and Danny stifled a laugh.

Sam's eyes were riveted however on the man who was in the room that they now occupied. He had long black hair and deep blue eyes which had only gotten more beautiful over time. He was holding an old guitar, playing and singing quietly. She was completely taken in by the sight. The melancholy in his voice as he sang touched her so deeply. She wanted so much to reach out and stroke his hair. Embarrassed by the reaction, she looked around to see if anyone was looking at her, but they were all equally taken in by the sight. She looked at Danny and saw fascinated confusion on his face.

_Thank god. Not ugly. I can't even play guitar._

"Danny," said Dani as she appeared before the young man. "I need to talk to you."

He looked up at her, not even remotely surprised by her sudden appearance. There was a lack of life and energy in his eyes. The eyes still blue, but no longer electric – simply reflecting dullness- as if he didn't care if he lived or died.

"What's up, Dani," he mumbled at her, not seeming to really care.

"It's time to fight back," she said softly. He looked at her uncomprehendingly.

"Fight back against what?"

"Phantom."

"You're going to engage him in battle," he asked, and it seemed as if suddenly he cared about something. "You know that's not a smart move. He's far more powerful than you are."

"You're going to fight back, Danny. At least I hope you are."

"Yeah. Right. I'm going to go fight a creature that can rip me to shreds without even breaking a sweat. That makes perfect sense. Come on Dani, why are you really here?"

She sighed heavily.

"We have a plan. "

"We?"

"There's a group of people who have been working on a weapon which – when deployed – will … alter Phantom in such a way as to hopefully render him harmless."

"The only way to make him harmless is to rip him apart molecule by molecule," he growled. "And we all know that's impossible. It's been tried. People have tried and failed and died. What makes these people any different?"

"They are your family and friends," said Dani, dropping the bomb. "And they are highly motivated to destroy the thing that they believe killed you."

Suddenly his eyes came alive. He put down the guitar and stood up in agitation.

"What? What are you saying?"

"Your family … Tucker, Sam and Lancer - they're alive."

"That's insane," he growled at her. "What the hell is wrong with you? If they were alive, I would never have gone to … Plasmius," he said, saying the name with complete loathing.

"Clockwork," she said simply. "He reached in and pulled them here after the Phantom-Plasmius hybrid was created."

"Why didn't he just stop them from dying in the first place," he asked incredulously.

"It's a time paradox… you see…"

"Forget it," he raised a hand. "Don't bother. I don't want to hear the ridiculous details that only make sense to people like Clockwork. What I want to know," he said, his voice taking on a very angry and menacing edge as he approached his cousin, "is how the hell you could have lied to me like this? They were alive all this time and you never told me? What the hell is that all about," he shouted, enraged.

Danielle had to fight against flinching. She wasn't afraid of Danny physically, but the rage that he was showing her hurt her nonetheless. She had lost Danny in this moment. And she would never regain his trust or love again.

"Danny, if _he_ knew you were alive," she cried out for him to understand. "you'd be dead a thousand times over!"

"What the hell do you want from me, Dani? Eternal gratitude that you saved my life? If you had let him kill me, it would have been a moment of horror and then I'd be free. Instead it's been ten years of the worst kind of nightmare –"

"You think he would have just killed you and let it go at that? Plasmius hated you, Danny. He would have come close to killing you within an inch of a life over and over again until he finally lost the thrill of it. You know that as well as I –"

"Fine, so you saved me from a week of hell. I still maintain that I'd have been better off," he shouted at her. He began to cry, unashamed of the emotion – all those kinds of feelings had long been expunged from his conscience. Fitting in, being cool, none of that mattered. Not at his age, and not in his circumstance. "I trusted you, Dani. You were my family. I believed in you… and all this time – they've been alive, and you kept that from me. You kept them from me. You kept me from them! Was this all about you having the family you always wanted? You took my place," he raged at her. "You stole my life and kept it for yourself!"

"I would never do that," she cried back at him. "That's not what this is about." Guilt flooded her veins as she wondered if maybe there was truth in what he said. But if there was, why would she be giving it all up now? Still… there was that chance that she had over-stated the danger of having him reunited with his family earlier on - maybe that was just a justification in her mind for doing what he said – stealing his life.

"Where are they," he asked, coming up close into her personal space, his body shaking with rage. He towered over her, and the invisible ones who watched held their breaths against his extreme anger.

Sam looked at Danny and saw that his fists were clenched. She could see that he was worried about Danielle. She gently squeezed one of his fists in her own hands. He looked at her, and then realized the intensity of his reaction. He looked around him, and was relieved to see that he wasn't the center of attention. Not being the strangest person in a room was a welcome change.

"I'll take you to them," she said gently. "But I need to talk to you first about the weapon that they created."

"I'll let them tell me for themselves," he cut her off. "The less time I have to look at you, the better."

"Danny. I have to tell you about it, because they don't know that the weapon will hurt you as much as it will hurt _him_."

He looked at her, his eyes filled with defeated betrayal.

"Kill me, and he dies? Is that it? So if that's it… just do it, Danni. I trust that you won't prolong my death like that thing would have. "

"No. This is something worse than death, Danny," she said, turning away in agitation.

"Worse than death is living for all these years in this prison when I could have been with my family. With Sam," he shouted, the rage coming out again in a huge tidal wave. "Damn you, Danni, I loved her. I loved her, and spent all these years agonizing over the fact that the most incredible woman I ever could have known was pulled away … there can never be another Sam… and all this time, you're telling me she's alive? Tell me, Danni – is she married now? Does she have children? Is she happy?" His voice dripped with bitterness.

"She's anything but happy," Danni responded. "She shares your feelings. These last ten years have been a nightmare for everyone who loves you."

And meanwhile, hidden from view, two teenagers looked at each other awkwardly.

"**Um… Sam… I guess… "**

"**Danny, it's okay. I realize this is an alternate reality."**

"**Well. Yeah – I mean – of course –"**

"**You two aren't fooling anyone except yourselves," said Jazz with a smile.**

"**Jazz, don't tease your brother about this," admonished Maddie.**

"**But she's right. The boy needs to get a clue," said Jack.**

**Tucker started laughing. "But he's the clueless one."**

"**Is **_**that**_** what it means," asked Danny in shock, looking at Sam. "You call me that too."**

"**You … are kind of clueless," she said, blushing. **

"**You said you didn't feel that way – back when Ember –"**

"**I didn't want you to be under a love spell, Danny. I wanted it to be real."  
**

"**But –"  
**

"**Oh, Romeo and Juliet. Maybe we can get back to 'Amity Park, 90210' later," said Lancer, urgently. "I think we should be paying attention to what's going on here."**

"**Yeah. Later's real good," said Danny, flushing a little in relief.**

"**Later works for me too," said Sam, happy to have escaped talking about this in front of a crowd of interested observers.**

"Tell me about this weapon, Dani," The elder Danny said wearily. "Am I the only one who can kill him? Some kind of disturbing cosmic payback? I created him, so I have to destroy him? If I'd known that… I'd have done it years ago."

"Years ago, we didn't know how. Now we do. But… it's not without costs. Our plan should eliminate the threat he poses… but – someone will have to live with a lifetime of pain and suffering."

"Oh wait! I know this one," he said sarcastically. "I know it. That someone is… bing, bing, bing… Me!"

She looked down, ashamed by the truths she had to tell him.

"Got it in one," she said quietly.

"Lay it on me," he said. "There's no point in holding back now."

"We can reunite you with Phantom," she said in a rush, noting the look of extreme horror that came over his features. She almost preferred the listless dullness to this abject terror.

"No," he said in a hushed voice. "No – that… I can't do – I can't ever do that –"

"Danny, listen. We've invented something that will bring you back together. We fire the weapon when you and _he_ are within touching distance, and it will pull you together into a single entity."

"Or kill me," he said, acidly. "Did my dad invent this?"

"**What does he mean by that," asked Jack.**

"**Dad, I'm sorry… but –"**

"**Jack, be quiet," said Maddie. "This is important."**

"Your dad was one of the inventors, but Jazz and Tucker had a lot to do with it too."

"Okay…"

"What does that mean?"

"It means. Okay. I'll do it. I created this whole mess. Least I can do is clean it up."

"**I guess you were right," said Maddie, looking at her son intently. **

"**Well," he shrugged. "You always told us that actions lead to consequence, and if you act, you should be prepared to deal with the consequences."**

"**I know I said all that," she smiled sadly. "I guess I never knew how well you listened."**

**He smiled sadly at her. "You're my mother. The way you feel about the things I do makes a big difference."**

"**And we've been hurting you all this time…"**

"**It's okay, mom," he said, not wanting her to get upset.**

"**But it isn't. And you and I will have this talk later as well."**

**He nodded.**

"You understand the consequences, don't you?"

"That I'll be chained forever to a crazy homicidal ghost?"

"We can remove Plasmius from the fusion. And we will. And once we do that, you can destroy him… "

"Ill be a halfa again like you. If you can't defeat him –"

"You will be far more powerful than I am. You will be like him."

"Just how much like him will I be?"

"No. Not evil, Danny. But you can't live with an insane malevolent ghost in your being without risking your sanity. It's going to be hard enough for you to cope with his memories –"

"Memories – you mean I'll … remember what he did, from his point of view?"

"Yes. That's – the consequence I was talking about. That and you'll have to deal with being public enemy #1 – only this time, to the world. The world will hate and fear you, Danny. I'm not sure you'll ever be able to undo that."

"But my mom and dad won't," he said softly. "Right? They know who I am? Will they still love me?"

**Maddie began to cry.**

"**Jack… he's afraid of us rejecting him. Oh, Danny –is that what you were most afraid of?"**

**He looked down.**

"**I've seen how you looked at 'Inviso-bill'," he said with a slight grimace. "I know you hated me at one time. The idea that that hate might survive my telling you the truth. You could have still believed that I was a malicious ghost… that I'd killed your son, and taken his form –"**

"**Danny, what a terrible thing to think," she cried.**

"**I don't think it anymore, mom… but what do you think his mother will think?"**

"**She will love him until her last dying breath, Danny."  
**

"**Are you sure, "he asked nervously?**

"**She's sure, son. And so am I."**

**He felt the reassuring hand of his father on his shoulder, and he smiled. His father hadn't touched him since finding out he was Danny Phantom, and the very ease at which the man had reached out to touch his ghostly shoulder made him realize that his father loved him still as well.**

"**Do you trust us," she asked him anxiously.**

"**Yes. If you say so, then I believe it."**

"Who are you all," the elder Danny asked them in shock. "Danni – what's going on here –"

"You heard about a young ghost child taking on Phantom," she said. "This is him. The younger you."

"I heard, but… I didn't – why are you all here."

"I… I thought we were … hidden from view," Danny asked Dani in confusion.

"I wanted him to see your parent's reaction to his question," she said quietly. "This is why I wanted you all here. To give a bit of hope. "

"You really think they could – forgive me," elder Danny asked his parents, deciding to accept who they were on face value.

"Oh, Danny – yes," his mother said, checking herself from reaching out to the sad and lost young man. "Danny, there's nothing to forgive."

"There's everything to forgive. This is all my fault." He swept icy eyes over his phantom self, trying not to shudder at the sight of the ghost-boy. He reminded him too much of Phantom now to be easy in his presence. "He knows. Right? That this is all my fault?"

Danny looked at him with an almost equal measure of fear. He looked guilty and nodded.

"Yeah."

"Glad to see someone's not afraid to say it."

"You went to Vlad, because you knew he would kill you. And that's what you wanted."

"Yes. But I couldn't bring myself to do it – I figured this wouldn't really be suicide – if someone else killed me. Even if I willingly stepped into a trap."

"I understand that," the younger Danny said.

"I… didn't know you were all here," said the older Danny as he swept his gaze around the crowd. "Sam. I'm sorry if what I said freaked you out."

She shook her head, her eyes wide and face even paler than usual. "It's okay," she said.

He grinned at her suddenly – and it was the first time a smile had been seen on his face in eons. It lit up his face, and like that, he was devilishly handsome. Sam had to fight the inner twittering of her heart. _This isn't my Danny. And he's far too old. I'm jail-bait to him._

He collected himself and sobered in an instant. _She's a little girl._

"I'm guessing that the weapon is complete, right? This is why you told me? We have to act now?"

"The sooner we act, the sooner we put him out of business," she said. "But if you need time-"

"No. I've had years of time. I want this to be over – one way or another. Let's go do it."


	3. Resolve

"Why are you in such a hurry to ruin your life," begged Jazz.

The elder Danny looked at his sister with haunted eyes.

"Jazz, please. No psychology today." He inhaled deeply as if in pain. "I can't handle it. I really can't handle it. "

"Please. Please just hear me out. What will it cost you to just give me five minutes?"

"You're going to try to talk me out of it," he said fretfully. "I can't afford to listen to that," he said, turning away from her.

"No. I'm not going to talk you out of it. Okay?" She approached him as she spoke, putting her hand on his arm.

"Well I am," said Maddie aggressively, moving forward to intercede.

Jazz looked at her mother with hurt in her eyes.

"Mom. Please. I really think that what I have to say is important. Okay?"

Maddie looked at Jazz for a long moment.

"You said you don't think it's a bad idea," she said near tears. "How can you say that? He's your brother, even if he isn't from our reality!"

"Because, mom, he won't listen to that. He'll close himself off. If you try to push him towards a conclusion he can't possibly accept as valid, he won't listen to a word you say. "

"Jazz Fenton. This isn't some stupid thesis you're writing. This is your family."

"Mom. I need to talk to Danny. Please don't make this harder than it already is."

Jazz and Maddie faced off each other, both resolute in their intent. Maddie looked down for a moment, fighting her tears and anger and then she returned her gaze, reproach clear in her expression.

"Mom," a voice at her elbow said, and she jumped in reflex as she saw 'The Ghost Boy' standing next to her. "Ah. Sorry to scare you," Danny mumbled, feeling stung by her reaction.

"No, baby. You – you didn't," she hastily assured him, gripping his forearm reassuringly. "I'm sorry –"

"I know. It's still weird for you. I get that. But mom, I hate to say this, and I will deny it when we get home… but Jazz is right." He chuckled mirthlessly. "She's like an old lady trapped in a teen's body."

"Danny," said Jazz in mock anger.

"I mean – you're pretty wise. And I guess I don't know much about that, but whatever you say usually ends up making a lot of sense to me. I think we should give her a chance to say what she wants to say."

"Anything that ends in Danny merging himself with a monstrous being is not –"

"Mom. He isn't me. And this isn't our world. He understands what he's taking on, and he's willing to do it. You have to let that go."

"How can I? He looks like my baby to me," she said tearfully. "Those eyes. You never forget the eyes. You don't know yet because you're too young, but the first thing when you hold that child in your arms, and they open those eyes and stare up at you – trying to figure out where the heck they are… and what's going on – that's such an amazing moment. And he has those eyes. Your eyes. And I can't bear the thought of –"

"Mom. This world is in danger from a monstrous ghost. Would you do any less than your best to stop it? Or would you go out there, weapons fully charged and face whatever came your way without any fear of getting hurt or killed."

"This is different."

"It isn't different! He's a Fenton, mom. He's doing what Fentons do."

"I don't –"

"And it's not your decision. And now Jazz has something that she needs to say to him, and I think we owe it to him to let her speak."

Maddie looked at him for a long hard moment, and then, defeated, she nodded.

"My children have grown up," she muttered sadly. "And I didn't even see it happening."

"Happens to all children, mom," he said softly. "And parents. I don't think any parent really sees it coming."

"Then, I can speak," asked Jazz warily, not wanting to upset her mother too much.

"Go ahead. I'm sorry I lost control. I know you would never willingly hurt him, Jazz," Maddie said as Jack pulled her in for a tight hug.

"Okay. Then. Danny - I really think that you should give yourself a few days to reunite with everyone without merging with Phantom. Danni, how will we know when he's about to escape the thermos."

"The last time it started to go intangible. Once that started, it was only a matter of hours."

"Okay. Do we all think that's what he'll do this time?"

"There's no reason to believe otherwise, but he's surprised us before. That ghostly wail –it's new, and I don't know if he can use that to escape the thermos."

"Can you do the wail?"

"No."

"I can," offered Danny. "I just learned it. It was a self-defense thing."

"Well, maybe you could see if you could break free of a thermos using the wail."

"I hate those things, Jazz. Maybe you could do it."

She smiled sadly at him. "I would if I could, baby brother."

"I'll do it," he grumbled.

"Just try it for an hour, Danny. Then we'll let you out."

"Sure. Sure you will."

"Look, I don't have time for this," said Jazz in frustration.

"Fine. Fine. Go ahead. "

"We don't have a thermos here to use," said Danni. "But back in the lab we do."

"Before we go there – Danny. You're going to combine your mind with the mind of something that's done some pretty devastating things. You will live with the horror of what he's done for a long time – if not the rest of your life."

"I know, Jazz," he said impatiently. "Talking about it really isn't helping."

"You've spent the last ten years alone – for the most part – and you aren't exactly in the healthiest mental place right now."

"You're calling me crazy?"

"Suicidal. Depressed. Isolated. Add that to the memories of a killer, and Phantom's mental state from having had to spend all this time with Plasmius – and that's a pretty explosive combination."

"So you're saying I'll very likely assume his activities –"

"Or kill yourself. Danny, please – before you do this, consider spending some time getting to know us all over again – our future selves, that is. Spend time with all of them, and learn what it feels like to be connected to society again. I realize you don't have much time to do this, but any little bit counts. The more connected you feel, the less likely you will be to do something crazy. It's the difference between the healthy ego and the damaged ego –"

"Jazz – "

"I know I don't have any professional credentials to back me up, but I've done tons of research on the subject. When a damaged ego is threatened, it tends to react in ways that are disastrous. In contrast, healthy egos can handle a lot. For the sake of the world, you should do your best to create a safe environment for your psyche."

"You really sound like you've gone of your nut," he said. "A day or two won't –"

"I think it will," said Sam. "You, Tucker and I always had an extremely tight bond. And then there's… you know – the fact that you – have feelings for her. I think that it can help you keep yourself from getting lost in all this."

"Sam, I'd like nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with her – with all of them – but I can't do this. When I merge with psycho-the-ghost, I'm going to have to remove myself from their company. I can't stay a part of their lives –"

"Isolation will damage you, Danny. It can trigger psychosis."

"I'm – I'm not –"

"Seriously, Danny. It really can. It often has. The more a person feels separated from society, the more a person can justify giving into baser impulses."

"I don't know –"

"Look – we'll try the experiment with the thermos," said the younger Danny. "If I can't break out of it with the wail, will you at least consider it? I think Jazz is right. I can't imagine going through all of what I've gone through without Tucker, Sam – and I guess even Jazz who was there for me when I didn't even know it."

"I don't –"

"Just say you'll consider it, Danny. Please don't torture yourself because you feel you deserve it. If you won't do it for yourself, then do it for the planet."

"That's a tall order, Jazz –"

"Just think about it. Okay?"

He hesitated a long beat, and then nodded.

"If Danny can't break out of the thermos with his wail, I'll consider it. But we have to keep 24/7 vigilance on the other thermos. The minute it starts to seem that he's breaking free, we act."

"Yes. Absolutely."


	4. Nerves

"Then we shouldn't hesitate any longer," said Danni urgently. "Let's go –"

"Wait… "

"Danny, what's wrong?"

He was ashen and his breathing was becoming labored. Galvanized by the sight of Danny in distress, everyone from the past moved in on him to offer help.

"I'm not ready!"

"Danny, I know it's all so sudden… but we don't have time to delay."

"Just… just let me – let me have a moment." He inhaled deeply, trying to regain control of the sudden terror that overwhelmed him. He was going to see them again. He was going to see _her_ again. "Oh, god," he muttered. "I don't know."

"Danny," said Maddie soothingly. "They will _all_ be so happy to see you alive."

He looked at her fearfully. "I don't know!" He wandered over to a mirror on the wall. "I've – not aged well," he said to himself almost as he traced the line of his jaw. He looked so haggard. So old before his time.

Sam looked at him, startled. His words were so far from the truth, but she couldn't tell him that. No way could she tell him that.

"Danny, you're beautiful," said Maddie.

"It's not just that," he said, turning away in frustration. "I'm just – it's like Jazz said. I'm not mentally in the best space right now."

"Nobody is," said Danni. "The earth is under constant attack from Phantom. Everyone is messed up."

He swallowed, and nodded.

"And this will be the first step to fixing that," he said resolutely as he forced himself under control and turned to his cousin. "Okay. Take me to them. I'm ready."

She hesitated a moment, and then nodded. "Like before, you'll all be invisible. I'll let them see Danny first before bringing you all out into the open."

"Will they hurt the younger Danny? Do they have automatic ecto-defense weapons?"

"No, because they don't want to hurt me… at least, they haven't wanted to up until now," she said grimly. "Of course, once they know, "she hesitated, and then shook her head. "They do have a system calibrated to attack Phantom, but I'm guessing that Danny doesn't have the same ecto signature as Phantom."

"No," shouted Jazz excitedly. "He doesn't!"

"How do you know," Jack asked her curiously?

"The boomerang," said Jazz. "It didn't respond to him!"

"How do you know that –"

"I… had a nasty encounter with him." She saw Danny's face come alive with worry. "I survived it, don't worry. I'll tell you the details later."

"So Danny should be safe," asked Maddie. "Because if not –"

"Yes. I'm not sure if you trust me," said Danni, "but yes."

"I trust you," both Danny's said.

Danni swung around to face her version of Danny in shock.

"You do?"

"You did what you had to do," he said sadly. "I – may have hated it… but I get it."

Danni shook her head. "I don't know what to say."

He looked down, unwilling to say more.

"Well… I guess let's make this happen, okay?"

"Fasten your seatbelts. Get prepared for takeoff," said Tucker.

And in a whirlwind they were off again, new surroundings coalescing around them within seconds after everything went blurry.

"You know, I could get used to this," said Tucker. "Jazz, maybe you should spend a little more time in your parents' lab."

She laughed. "I wouldn't know where to begin."

"Oh my god," said the older Danny as he saw the people he had loved and missed all those years in the room that they now inhabited.

"Mom looks exactly the same." He paused a moment, and then laughed. "Oh, Dad… he's missing half himself. I guess there wasn't a steady supply of fudge… Jazz – you're so much the same too," he whispered in shock. "My god – don't these people age?"

They were all silent in the face of his rediscovery, even though Jack did feel a bit indignant at the fudge remark.

"Mr. Lancer," he said, turning to the younger version of himself. "Wow – you've really –"

"Lost weight," he mumbled. "I guess I gave up the nasty burgers. Maybe I should take a lesson from my future self."

"Shit. Look at Tucker," Older-Danny whispered. Tucker had grown tall and broad, and was bereft of the odd clothing choices that he used to favor in school. He was a grim-faced man, who like Danny, had the bearing of one much older than he was. "You could have been a football player." His words trailed off as he laid his eyes on the woman he had been dreaming about all these years.

"Wow," breathed Tucker as he saw himself. "That's… really weird. He's so different. It's strange to see yourself like this."

"Welcome to my freaking world," grumbled the younger Danny.

The older Danny didn't respond. He was staring wordlessly at Sam, unable to compose a coherent sentence if he tried.

"Sam," he whispered at the woman standing only a foot from where he was. This woman was quite a change from the young 'Goth' girl in the envelope with him. Sam had matured into a beautiful woman, but the goth look was clearly something she had abandoned. Her hair was dark brown, and gone was the dark liner, shadow and lipstick.

"Well," said Sam nervously. "I kind of look normal."

"She's beautiful," breathed the older Danny, riveted by the sight of the woman he loved. "She's… always been beautiful."

"What do you think, Danny," Tucker whispered to his younger self.

"I think… she looks great," said Danny, also caught up in seeing Sam's older self.

"Better than Sam, do you think" queried Tucker and laughed as Danny sent him a look that was part annoyance, part fear.

"It's just weird – to see all of us like this," he said hastily, trying to avoid the question.

"You look beautiful," said Jazz with a smile to the younger girl. "This way, and that way."

"Sam, I'd forgotten you had brown hair," teased Tucker.

"Just stop it, okay," she said uncomfortably.

"Sam, you really have nothing to feel badly about here," said Danny shyly. "I mean… at least she didn't dye her hair blonde and start wearing pink."

Sam scowled. "Yeah. At least that." She thought about her mother and suddenly wondered where her mother might be. But it was not the right time to ask.

"Danni, you're all right!"

As Danni turned visible, the various people in the lab rushed around her. Maddie pulled her into a hug.

"We were worried! Why didn't you answer your phone?"

"I – I… I had business to take care of," she said guiltily remembering that she'd gone silent to avoid Danny's detection by Phantom.

"Well don't do that again, young lady," said Jack sternly. Danni smiled at his fatherly tones.

"I have something really important to tell you," she said nervously moving away from them. "And it's … not – something that's easy to say. I've brought someone with me. Someone who can help us."

"Danni, you know this lab is top-secret," said Tucker admonishingly.

"This is someone you will want to see," she said as she let Danny come into view.

Loud gasps were heard and suddenly a plethora of weapons were trained on him.

"You brought Phantom," asked Jack in disbelief. "Why –"

"Not Phantom," she said urgently. "This is Danny… this is your son. Phantom would have triggered the defense system. This man is all human. Please, you have to believe me!"

"Danni, he's tricked us before," warned Jazz, not backing down.

"He only ever looked like the fourteen year old Danny. Never this," said Danni, blocking Danny from harm. "Please. Please hear me out. If this were phantom, your ecto detectors would have gone off. He's not even a ghost."

"Prove it," growled Lancer.

"Feel free to draw blood," said Danny wearily.

The sound of his voice brought doubt into the gaze of those who still thought he might be phantom.

"Danni – how can this be Danny? He was murdered," choked Jazz, looking at Danny with something akin to hope and love. When the others saw her face, they warily lowered their weapons.

"I pulled him from the path of Phantom's blast and hid him from Phantom. Phantom never figured it out."

"You never told us," said Maddie, confused. "Did you go back in time just now to do this?"

She hesitated a long while before replying, well aware that the truth now would ruin her relationship with her family once and for all. But only truth would do. Anything less would be appalling.

"No. I did this ten years ago," she said, her voice breaking on a sob.

"Ten years – you never told us," gasped Maddie.

"He's been alive all this time," wailed Sam at a girl who had become like a sister to her. "How could you – you knew – how could you?"

Everyone was looking at Danni with a mix of shock, disbelief and betrayal. She closed her eyes. _Yes. This is as bad as I thought._

"Phantom is why," she said desperately, looking around, trying to gain some kind of reprieve. "Had he known Danny was alive – if he knew about any of you he would have killed you instantly. "

"Why would our knowing about Danny have compromised that?"

"Maddie –"

"My son has been alive all these years," she interrupted, not caring anymore about anything but holding her son. She moved towards him jerkily and then pulled him into a tight desperate hug. He remained unresponsive in her hug, unable to accept what was happening. She pulled back after a long moment, and looked into his eyes. "Oh, Danny," she cried, well aware that he'd suffered so much in this time. She turned to Danni. "This is my child," she screamed out at her. "He was just a child and he had to grow up with strangers when he could have been with us?"

"Not strangers," she whispered. "Just me."

"JUST you," cried out Jazz. "That's it? That's his only contact with the world?"

"He had to be in hiding. His existence had to be secret."

"That's like prison," thundered Jack. He looked at his son and came over to him, pulling the boy into yet another hug. "Son, I've missed you," he said, getting choked up. Danny fought not to push away. He couldn't handle the onslaught right now. They were overloading his mind with emotions he had long buried.

Jazz saw that the hugs were overwhelming him and took his hand in hers. "Oh, baby brother," she said sadly. "I'm so glad to see you again."

"I – I'm glad to see you," he said, as he reached out and touched her face. Jazz had always been a second little mother to him, and the feeling of her skin and hair always had the power to soothe him.

Tucker and Lancer approached him excitedly, and each embraced the unresponsive man standing in near shock in their midst.

They were all talking around him, touching him – and he stepped away from it all, feeling overwhelmed and afraid.

"Please," he croaked out. "I'm sorry – it's just – it's so much. I'm – it's amazing to see you all again, but – I – I don't talk to people much and this is too much."

"We're sorry," said Sam, finally speaking to him. Her eyes held a world of hurt and longing, but she didn't approach him, afraid to touch him, in case he disappeared. She'd had dreams of Danny far too many times to trust that this wasn't one of them. Of course, he had never looked like this, always instead appearing as the boy with the mischievous grin.

"No," he said to her. "No, don't be sorry- "He took a step in her direction and she had to fight from retreating. She forced herself to move towards him, her legs gripped by dread. _What if this isn't real?_ His blue eyes burned into him. _He's so tall. He's so… _When she was near him, she lifted a gentle hand and stroked the side of his face. _I didn't have to reach up to do this before._

He caught her hand carefully in his, and held it there for a moment, loving the feel of her. They stared into each others eyes for a long moment, finally daring to show the emotions they had been so afraid of as youths.

"Sam," he muttered, not knowing what else to say.

She smiled tentatively at him. "Danny." And then she drew him into a hug, unable to hold it back any longer. Danny tried to hold in a hysterical laugh, remembering Sam and her disdain for physical contact… at least she had hated it from other people. She'd never minded it from him, it seemed. Without hesitating, he wrapped his arms around her too, for the first time since reuniting with everyone, he returned the embrace.


	5. The plan

Time seemed to stop and all he knew or cared about was this embrace. She felt like heaven in his arms. The feel of her so close, the heartbeat, the old familiar scent of her, it began to thaw the cold that had been inside him since he had seen his family die.

But soon reality set in and he became uncomfortably aware that he and Sam were hugging, and that everyone was staring at them. Very nervously, he let her go.

"I'm – sorry about that," he began to say.

"I'm not sorry at all," she interjected fiercely, cutting off any further words.

He flushed red. He might not be 14 anymore, but he had no significant human contact all these years and seeing her again propelled him back to that old familiar nervous awkwardness.

Sam had grown so much. She was a woman now, more confident in her body language. She had clearly reached the promise of her youth, and was beautiful beyond belief. Danny could hardly bear to be near her right now, he wanted so much to get lost in her presence and forget his grim destiny. _She probably has a boyfriend._

Uncomfortably, he looked around trying to find some way of rescuing himself from these feelings. He saw Danni standing off to the side, well aware that she was no longer a welcome part of the crowd and his heart reached out to her.

"Please," he begged them all, "forgive Danni. She really did what she thought was best. And without her actions we'd all be dead right now."

Danni looked at him in shock. He had been hurt the most by her behavior because he had to live the last ten years in virtual solitude. The fact that he was trying to advocate for her with the rest of their family blew her away.

"Danni," Maddie addressed the young woman, "I don't hate you. I can't. But I'm really angry, and I don't know how to be anything other than that right now."

Danni looked at her with a mixture of sadness and guilt. "I know. I expected that."

"We all need time," said Jazz carefully, "but we also need each other. Everything else will have to wait. Our number one priority now is to stop Phantom. Danny, did Danni tell you that we've, "she broke off and looked at Danni in horror. "Oh shit. Oh shit!"

"Jazz, please," begged Danni, desperately.

"No," cried out Jazz. "No way in _hell!_"

"You want to use the weapon on Danny," gasped Maddie, catching on.

"My son is not joining up with that thing," thundered Jack.

Sam, Tucker and Lancer remained quiet. They knew that the weapon would best work if used in conjunction with Danny.

"I've already decided to do this," he said quietly.

"Do you know what that will do to you, boy," asked Jack disbelievingly?

"Yes. I know," he said with controlled pain. "It wasn't easy being Phantom the first time around – this time, people have good reason to treat me like public enemy number one."

"Son, I'm so sorry that we vilified you the way we did back then," begged Maddie, "But you can't do this now. You can't!"

"Please," he said, letting his anguish show. "I don't want to spend precious time arguing. I want to spend time getting to know you all again before … "

"Danny," said Jazz, "hear us out, at least."

"A decade younger version of you just finished telling me that I needed to reconnect with my loved ones to give me a stronger support system – to help stave off psychosis. Don't you think I'd best be served doing that instead of arguing with you all?"

"Are you seeing things, Danny," gasped Jazz, shocked that her brother might be mentally ill.

"No," said Danni. "I have some people hidden in the envelope who came from the past. You heard about a younger version of Danny Phantom fighting with Phantom."

"I thought it was one of his tricks," said Jack. "It's not like he isn't capable of splitting his image and making us see his younger self."

"No. You're right. It could have been a trick. But it wasn't."

She rendered those in the envelope visible to the room.

"Holy. Shit," said Tucker, looking at their past selves in shock.

"Language," said the older Danny. "There are children present," he said, with a mirthless, slightly hysterical bark of laughter.

All eyes were on Danny who was still in Phantom mode. Their expressions were highly uneasy.

"Uh. Hi…?" He said awkwardly as his mother drew an arm around him comfortingly.

Tucker finally broke the awkward silence. "Wow. We were so small."

"Look," said Maddie. "Look at how much Danny Phantom looks like our Danny. How could we have missed it? Makes you really wonder where our heads were."

"People only see what they want to see," said Danny. "Don't feel bad. It's human nature."

"_You_ fought Phantom," asked Lancer moving in on the younger Danny? "You're so small. How did you do that?"

"I'm not _that_ small," muttered Danny. "You guys know how to step all over a guy's ego. I'm almost fully grown," he protested, realizing how far from truth that was.

"He put him in this thermos," said Danni, smiling proudly at the younger variant of her progenitor.

"How the hell did you do that," asked the older Tucker.

Maddie winced at his language. "Sorry. I keep forgetting."

"And we haven't heard any of that before," said younger Sam dryly. "Being teenagers and all."

"I want to know how you did it too," said Jazz. "I know you're powerful in comparison to a lot of the ghosts you currently fight, but Phantom is stronger than all of them."

"Well," he said awkwardly under all the questions. "At first, I thought he was going to kill me. It didn't seem like I stood a chance. And I had help. Jazz was very helpful."

"Danny, you're the one who got him in the thermos," said his version of Jazz. "He used his ghostly wail," she filled in, realizing that Danny was avoiding mentioning it. It probably made him feel closer in nature to his enemy.

"But he didn't start doing that until recently," said Maddie in shock.

"He threw me into the ghost zone. My… ah… my hands were pretty much tied, and the only way I could escape was by screaming at the ghosts in the ghost zone to leave me alone. It came out as a wail, and so… I used it. It was really cool," he said. "I mean – it was… powerful. And it knocked him off his feet. And then it was just a matter of quick timing with the thermos."

"That's incredible, Danny – you should be really proud of yourself. I mean – thank you – you really did us a favor," said Jack.

"Well. I – I did what I had to do," he said uncomfortably.

"That's a theme for you," said older-Maddie gently, realizing that all along her 'lazy' son with the terrible 'study-ethic' was really self-sacrificing with a strong protective nature. _I didn't see him at all in those days._

"How long has he been in the thermos?"

"Less than a day," said Danni.

"So we – maybe have a week? We can set it up in a containment chamber and have the computer alert us when it starts to lose tangibility."

"There's a belief that he could use the wail to get himself out sooner," said the older Danny. "My… my younger self volunteered to try doing that himself."

"I hate the idea of you going in that thing," said the younger version of Jack.

"Dad –"

"No. Blast it all," Jack cursed. "I should never have let you in the lab while working on my inventions. I knew Maddie didn't like it because it was dangerous for you, I just didn't realize how dangerous it would be for us someday."

Both Dannys flinched, realizing that each had brought the world to ruin by their simple youthful curiosity.

"Ah. Sorry?" said the younger Danny awkwardly.

"No, no – it's all my fault, "ranted Jack. "This is all my fault. I build the portal, and I did it –"

"Jack, stop it. You're making him feel bad," said the older Maddie. "Danny, of course you aren't responsible for Phantom. He's a mixture of two ghosts and no human. That's not who and what you are."

"Of course, of course," muttered Jack, still not feeling any less responsible for what had happened.

"Danny, won't it be uncomfortable for you," asked the younger Lancer? "Being all cramped up in there?"

"I'll be in ghost form, so I won't be aware really of the size of the thermos" he said. "I hate it, but I'll do it. If you promise to let me out in reasonable time, okay?"

"An hour, max," said Jazz. "I promise."

"Then let's just do it and get it over with," he said. "I'd… appreciate it if – I don't want everyone to see it," he said, hating the fact that he was half ghost in this strange reality.

"I'll do it," said his older self. "Everyone can clear the room until – we've completed the task."

He nodded at his older self. "Yeah. That works for me."


	6. Chapter 6

Alone in the lab together, the awkwardness that had permeated the events all along seemed to get worse.

"I'm sorry you have to do this," said the older man to his younger doppelganger. "I remember how much I hated that feeling."

"Please don't tell the others," his younger self begged. "I don't want them to feel badly about me being in here."

Danny looked at the young halfa in admiration. Had he ever been this brave and resolute? It seemed impossible that there was ever a time that he and this youngster were ever in alignment.

"Are you ready," he asked carefully, not wanting to prolong the anticipation. Green eyes flashed with fear and his guilt at what he was doing increased. Amazingly, his doppelganger answered him with a confidence that seemed misplaced in someone so young.

"Yes. The sooner we do this, the better."

He picked up the thermos and began to twist off the lid. That small action seemed to shatter the boy's confidence and the eyes now looked at him pleadingly.

"Don't let me stay in there too long, please."

"I promise you. After an hour, we will let you out. You have my word on that."

Danny nodded. "I trust you. I just can't help feeling like I'm walking into a trap."

"I know," he breathed out. "I know."

"If something happened. If _he_ got loose and … if something happened to all of you – "

"We won't go far from where you are. If something even seems to be happening, we will let you out. I promise you."

Danny exhaled.

"I appreciate that."

The teen closed his eyes and fought from flinching as he anticipated that unpleasant feeling of being pulled into the thermos.

Slowly the older Danny aimed the thermos and shut his own eyes against the sight. Mercifully, his younger self did not make a sound.

While the two versions of Danny took care of this awkward business, the others waited in their own personal states of agitation.

Sam furtively watched her older self. There was so much about her that fascinated her. So many questions she wanted to ask, but the woman seemed far too overwhelmed for her to even consider it.

The older woman had said nothing since the two Dannys had sequestered themselves away. Instead she had retreated to a corner where she could burn her gaze into the door that separated the two from the rest of them. Pain was so evident in her expression that Sam felt her own heart cracking under the strain.

Everyone seemed inclined to give her space, and Sam knew it would be an incredible breach of protocol to violate that tacit agreement.

She forcibly redirected her attention to the others.

"Will Danny be okay," she caught Maddie asking Jazz. "Has he ever done this before?"

Jazz turned a dark color of red and she nodded.

"It was my fault. I was trying to help catch ghosts, but I kept catching him."

"You got a lot better though," Sam offered as she approached them, feeling far less awkward about interrupting them than she did dealing with the older versions of themselves.

"Thanks," said Jazz sadly. "I only ever wanted to help him. It seems such an incredible burden."

Maddie looked at her daughter, awed once more at how mature the young woman was. Her job, it seemed, was over. Or at least had altered. No more was it her job to lead... instead, it was to offer guidance and to stay out of the way as the woman chose her own path in life. Parenthood was like standing on shifting sands. Just when you got used to one sense of imbalance, you were thrown into another and had to scramble for footing.

"We made that burden worse," she said quietly. "He was always afraid we would reject him. Wasn't he?"

Sam bit her tongue. _He thought you would kill him._ She simply couldn't say to them how deeply his fears ran.

"I think he thought you wouldn't believe that he was Danny anymore," said Jazz cautiously, also afraid of hurting her parents. "You might have thought he was a ghost who had killed your son and then assumed his form to fool with us."

Maddie nodded. "I very well might have thought that. I guess there's proof in the existence of his older human self -"

"There's proof in Danny," Sam said suddenly angrily. As if Danny had to prove himself. Maddie was his mother. She should be able to look her son in the eyes and detect his soul without needing any proof.

Maddie looked at the young girl and saw what the child really meant. There had been times in the past where the goth girl and the off-beat 'techno-geek' as Tucker had self-styled himself both made her nervous. She had believed them at times to be negative influences on Danny as he seemed to get further and further away from the younger boy he had been. But now she saw it all for what it was. That these two loyal friends had fought ghosts alongside their son despite their own lack of any kind of special powers. These two not-fully-grown people had risked their own lives time and again for their son... not just for Danny, but the world.

"I see a lot of things," she murmured as she looked at Sam intently.

Sam flushed under the scrutiny, feeling clumsy and awkward and wanting to vanish. Since hitting a certain age, adult interest and scrutiny had always seemed invasive. It was a violation of a different kind of treaty. _Go back to your own world. Leave me alone. I_'_ll do the same, and we'll only meet at holidays._

When had that all changed, she wondered? From that crazy desire for attention as children, they all shifted into a sort of walking invisibility. Or at least, a strong wish for it. And then the adult versions of themselves - nobody here seemed to care about age differences. They were all on equal ground._ Something made me what I am now.. Now something will turn me into someone like that. _It was odd, trying to imagine what it would be like to navigate the world of adulthood, feeling on the same footing as those around you. Not having to always answer for where you'd been and what you'd been doing. Not having anyone to help clean up your mess. But then, she, Tucker and Danny had been dealing with the world in an adult fashion for some time now, and the only ones around to clean up messes had been the three of them.

"I've been wrong about a lot of things," Maddie strengthened her position and interrupting the girl's thoughts. "And I'm sorry for being the problem. That will change."

"You're darn right, Maddie," said Jack hotly. "That boy is going to be equipped with the best state of the art equipment. I'll build him a utility belt -"

The words tore Maddie away from her husband's posturing. She knew Jack had to go this path to somehow reconcile himself with the same crushing sense of guilt that she knew he must feel, but the comment about a belt triggered a memory and she flushed through with pain at the realization that the reason why her boy had refused her hugs on that camping trip was the fact that every time he touched her, he got a shock. The cruelty of that was so mind-boggling, she couldn't even handle it.

"What we put him through," she gasped, the tears coming involuntarily.

Sam quickly put a hand on her arm.

"Please don't," she said, surprising herself. "He understood, for the most part at least, why things were the way they were."

"Then my job with him is over too -"

"Don't fool yourself. I can tell you that it isn't. We don't outgrow you - we just need you differently. But if you tell my parents I said that, I will completely deny it."

Maddie smiled at her ferocity.

"Okay. Promise. They won't hear it from me." She hesitated a long beat, and then asked one of the hard questions.

"So - what's it been like for you all? Taking on this duty? Becoming hidden heroes?"


	7. Chapter 7

"Well, you know," she said with a false breeziness she didn't feel. "It's been okay."

"How have you managed to juggle your real lives with your school lives," persisted Maddie?

"Well," Sam said nervously, "I know you know that Danny's grades aren't what they used to be."

"And yours?"

"It hasn't always been easy," she said defensively. "Sometimes we've had to skip school and then we look like trouble makers. At least Mr. Lancer knows now."

"Now that we all know, things will be different."

"_Danny _won't have to hide it anymore. Tucker and I still have the problem."

"No. Now that we know, Jack and I can back Danny up. You and Tucker can go back to the way things used to be."

The fury that appeared on Sam's face gave Maddie a very strong indication of how the girl felt.

"Ghost hunting is dangerous," Maddie urged against the girl's sudden resentful silence.

"Tell me about it," Sam replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Without your parents' approval," she began again, only to be interrupted.

"Mrs. Fenton," said older-Danny who had emerged silently from the other room. "Every time I saved a life, or sent a trouble-making ghost back into the zone, my success was as attributable to those who helped me, as it was to my own powers. Sam and Tucker both are as much heroes as I ever was. And Jazz too. Once she stopped pointing the thermos my way," he smiled at her wistfully.

Everyone was suddenly speechless at his reappearance. The current conversation came to a sudden halt as Maddie struggled with the question of her own son's well-being.

"Is he okay," blurted out Maddie worriedly. "Please tell me the truth. Did he feel any pain? Is he in pain now?"

"It doesn't hurt," he said quickly, hoping to avoid describing what it did feel like. While not painful, the experience was anything but pleasant. "He's not in any pain."

"But he isn't exactly comfortable."

"No." _He's lonely. And terrified. And lost and amorphous and, oh god – the terror. Entombed. Helpless._

Maddie saw emotions flickering wildly in the man's eyes, and he averted his gaze. Guilt flared anew in her heart. Her baby was suffering in an object that she had helped create. She had invented, along with her husband, instruments of torture that had harmed her child over and over again.

"Maddie, you have to stop," he said gently. "It doesn't do any good to live in regret for things in the past. The Fenton thermos enabled me to avoid getting killed on many occasions. If I didn't have the thermos, I would have had no way to send ghosts back into the ghost zone. Seriously. It's an incredible invention."

She smiled at him. "You're still such a sweet kid," she said fondly looking into the eyes that belonged to her son, no matter how old he had become.

"Danny?" He turned to see his own mother standing nervously near him. "Do you think – maybe we could - " she trailed off, not knowing what exactly it was she was asking of him. _Can I talk to you? Hold you? Never ever let you out of my sight again?_

He felt an equal surge of longing towards her. All these years he had thought his family dead. Now that they both had been disabused of the same notions, they were awkward an unsure about how to proceed. Things were made even more uncertain with knowing that soon Danny would have to face fusing with that monstrosity.

"Mom," he said, letting his fondness for her show in his words and manner. "I've missed you so much."

She embraced him, unable to honor his clearly transmitted discomfort with human contact. Not bothering anymore to hold it back, she let loose the floodgates of her emotions.

Her son had finally come home.


	8. Chapter 8

By complicit silent agreement, the group did not speak much during the hour in which the young Danny was imprisoned in the thermos. After the initial hugging that the older Danny did with his mother, his desire to talk and interact with people faded again. He was terrified he would do or say the wrong thing. It had been so long since he had spoken to or been in the company of people other than Dani and he was imprisoned by his own fear.

The older versions of Sam and Danny kept looking at each other in a way that was almost reminiscent of their former youthful awkwardness whenever anyone had dared to suggest that they had a thing going. Neither had any wish to be coy or shy, but direct eye contact seemed to be painful for them both.

"Elephant in the room," muttered the younger Tucker, breaking the awkward silence.

The older Danny looked at the youthful version of his friend, still young enough not to care about saying the embarrassing things that needed to be said.

"What?"

"Don't 'what' me," he said back with a mischievous grin. "Talk to each other. This is ridiculous."

The younger Sam blushed deep red when Danny's eyes lit upon her. Much to her dismay, she found him disturbingly attractive. Although she was very young herself, the feelings he evoked made her nervous on a visceral and highly aware level. Whle she was head over heels for his younger self, seeing him fully realized as a man and understanding that any relationship between their older selves would not be as innocent as what currently brewed between her and Danny brought thoughts to her mind that she felt sure she shouldn't be having.

Seeing her flush, Danny looked away from her. She was a child and having her look at him like that made him feel like a criminal.

"Maybe now isn't the time," he said back to the younger version of his friend. "I hate that he's suffering for me. It isn't right."

"You've done your share of suffering for the rest of us, so give yourself a break," said older Tucker, coming in to bolster his younger self's stance. "You know you want to talk to her. She wants to talk you, hell we all do, but we understand if you two want to go off and re-acquaint."

"Re-acquaint," he repeated disbelievingly. "This isn't a high school reunion. We didn't lose touch," his voice rose in anger – and anger that was badly misplaced. "A monster that I'm responsible for kept us apart all these years. I thought you all were dead! You all thought that I was dead! I can't just go up and ask her how it's going! What exactly can I offer her? I'm going to become that monster, Tucker," he whispered, his voice low and anguished. "What right do I have to expose her to that kind of existence?"

"Exposing me," she said, coming over angrily to confront him. He jumped, startled that she had even been so close that she could hear his angrily whispered diatribe. "Excuse me? Do I look like a pathetic helpless damsel in distress?"

"Sam," he said, unable to even vocalize anymore. He just looked at her miserably.

"The elephant _is_ in the room," she bit back. "Do you still love me?" Her anger had made her brave.

"You know that I do," he responded after a long and painful silence.

"It'd help if you stopped staring at my feet," she said acidly. "And to think most men look elsewhere," she muttered as an afterthought.

Danny's eyes flicked exactly to where she meant and then looked away in horror. Yes… Sam had certainly grown and he fought against the sudden heat that filled him. _And what she needs is this pathetic virgin in her life._

She suddenly laughed. It wasn't cruel or mocking. It was Sam. The old Sam. Gently jeering in a way that had never been intended to hurt.

"Made you look," she said teasingly.

His eyes met hers and the love and sweetness he saw there made him suddenly forget himself. He took a step towards her, forgetting that they had an audience.

"Sam," he said again. "I've – " He shook his head. "God, I've missed you."

"Danny," she said, moving close to him, closing the gap herself because she knew he feared this intimacy and she was the one who had to be brave. "I love you. I won't give you up after finding you again. I know this is going to be horrific for you… but you can't possibly expect me to just go away. We aren't children anymore –"

"You can find someone else," he urged her almost violent in his passion. "When … I've taken care of the menace… you can live a normal life – you can have a normal life. I won't interfere in it. I promise you."

"Do you think I could ever have a normal life after all this?"

He looked away, ashamed.

"I know Phantom devastated the world. I know normal is… different now."

"I haven't had normal since meeting you," she said softly. "And I don't want normal."

"Don't knock it," he muttered.

"A life without a despotic evil ghost overlord would have been a good thing," she said, framing it in ways that only she could. "But we take the life we're given and we live it. I believe the future could be good for us all. You're making a huge sacrifice for all of us Danny, but don't make things worse for yourself by trying to handle this alone. You've had too much alone already and I have to say, it probably isn't emotionally healthy for you to continue that way. Look at how messed up Vlad was…"

"If anything ever happened to you… even if I don't somehow become dangerous as a result of the fusion, people will hate me. They will want me dead."

"They hate him. Once they know that you're different –"

"I will always be viewed as a threat, once I merge back with my ghost half. Even if I show the world over and over again that I just want to help, they won't forget what Phantom did. They won't forget how dangerous that kind of power is. And as long as that's true, I'll be hunted. It's not a life any of you should lead."

"You seriously expect to drop out of our lives," asked Jazz incredulously. "Really? After missing the last 10 years with you, we are supposed to just let you fall off the radar?"

He expelled a frustrated sigh.

"I know. I know that's bad, but –"

The timer's began to go off indicating that the hour was up.

"Saved by the bell, Danny," said Tucker as he saw his friend visibly relax.


	9. Chapter 9

Young Danny was in human form and very weak and sleepy after having emerged from the thermos. He looked as if he was about to collapse and his older counterpart watched him with a heavy sense of guilt.

One more thing to add to the list of stuff that's my fault. I tortured a kid today.

He looked over at his parents' younger counterparts and they were watching their son with concern so palpable, he could almost taste the bitterness of it.

"Do you want to go lie down," younger-Maddie asked the boy affectionately. "You look bone weary."

The teen shook his head. "Let me just stay here, mom. I want to be in on the planning." He collapsed in a chair, and put his head down on his arms which he had crossed in front of him on a table. After a few moments, he lifted his tired head and looked around him. Every single person in the room was watching him with varying expressions on their faces.

"What?" His voice was unsure and uncomfortable under the deep scrutiny.

"I forgot how… young," said older-Sam, looking at his black spiked hair and big blue eyes. "You look so young. In ghost form, it wasn't as stark."

"I'm not a kid," he groused at her. "I'm a teenager. I'm almost fully grown." He looked at his older self and then blushed sheepishly. "Okay. Not so much."

"Nothing wrong with being young and cute," older Sam grinned back at him, teasing him as she could never do with his older self, and he could never do with her younger self.

He flushed in embarrassment, and she had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop from laughing. Her eyes still filled with temporary merriment, she turned to look at his older self and saw him staring at her intently as if he was trying to memorize every bit of her face. Heat ran through her at the way he looked at her, so differently from how young Danny and Sam had ever interacted.

Young Danny saw the exchange and quickly turned to young Sam in an effort to break the tension.

"So… you think I'm cute?" He asked her with a disarming grin on his face.

She rolled her eyes. "Now you'll be even more difficult than before."

There was a long awkward silence following this statement. It had triggered a melancholy mood shift in the older Danny as he realized that after merging with the ghost half, he would truly become something more difficult than before. He studiously avoided eye contact with the group and spoke to the floor.

"I know that Danny wasn't able to break free. But after thinking about it, I think we should just do the fusion now. While I'd love a chance to reacquaint, we can't risk it not working. I just have a bad feeling."

"So I did all that for nothing," his younger self groused at him with a smile on his face to show he was sort of kidding.

"Danny, I'm sorry," his older self said soberly. "I realize it seems that way, but I can't relax knowing that our destruction could very well be imminent. If he gets out of containment, he'll target my friends and family first, and then he'll probably do that slow torture that we know Vlad was fond of. I would rather face the fusion and all it implies than face a terrifying and slow death."

Young Danny sobered. He knew how powerful he was in ghost form and he could well imagine how the malevolent ghost would deal with everyone.

"Can we wait until I get my strength back," he told his older self. "I'm exhausted and until I regain my energy, I'm not going to be very useful if we have to –"

Danny trailed off awkwardly as he realized what he was saying.

"If you have to stop me," said older Danny. "It's okay. I get it. If the fusion doesn't work as expected and I become evil – you all have to take me down."

Nobody said anything, but the two Dannys kept eye contact. They understood each other perfectly.

"We need to talk about the future first," said older-Maddie firmly. "I'm not losing my son again."

Her eyes bored into her son's with stern implacability. Maddie had always been the alpha member of their family, even if Jack would never admit it.

"If this works," she continued, "You cannot go off and hide. I need my son. We all need you. Whatever you have to face, we face together. As a family."

"Mom… "

"You promise me, Danny. You promise me now."

"If it works and I'm not dangerous. Then I won't leave without – telling you. I can't make promises beyond that. We all know that when this happens, I will bear the brunt of the world's hatred of Phantom."

"Phantom probably won't have the same appearance he has now," said Sam. "Once we get rid of Plasmius's half, he will probably look like you again, so maybe people won't know."

"I refuse to lie," he told her. "I'm done with all of that. People will know, and I won't deceive them. They have the right to know that the ghost in their midst is part of the monster that terrorized the world."

"But it's not your fault what he did."

"No," he agreed. "But that won't matter. I won't lie to protect myself, especially if that lie leads to people treating me like a hero for stopping the big bad ghost. I can't do it. It's wrong. And being a part of my life will result in others treating you all like collaborators. You will also be hated."

"We'll deal with that," Sam told him with equal directness. "I'm not losing you either."

The others all began to talk at once at him as they asserted the same thing.

Touched immeasurably by the strength of love around him, Danny hesitated and then nodded.

"I promise I won't just disappear. I don't promise that I won't decide later that being on my own is the right thing for all of us. But I won't just disappear. Whatever I do, you'll know I'm going to do it."

"Well, considering you'll have the ability to vanish into thin air," said Tucker, "That's good to know."

There was a long silence and then Danielle who had been silent much of the time finally spoke up.

"We should talk contingency plan first. Without Danny in the room," she said looking at the older version of her progenitor.

He nodded, even though the others appeared outraged.

"You know it's true," he told the group of them. "She's right. She's being pragmatic."

"As usual," snapped Jazz, who was angered once again about the loss of her brother and the violation of trust by someone she thought of as a sister.

"Danielle's actions may well have saved the world if this works," said Danny. "She saved my life, even if it didn't seem like much of a life at the time. I hate to sound all Hallmark, but we have to work together on this and we have to trust in each other's resolve. I don't mind that you have to talk about how you're all going to take me down should I get subverted by Phantom's malevolence. Just know that I'm behind the idea 100%. I don't want to live attached to an evil-doing ghost. Death is preferable to that."

"You're asking me to plot my own child's demise," snapped Maddie.

"He's asking us to do the right thing, mom," said Jazz. Sam, Jack, Tucker and the rest remained stoically silent as they pondered the grim possibilities.

"Danny will be able to fight the malevolence," said Sam.

"That's my girl," said Jack, proudly, slapping her on the back.


	10. Chapter 10

Danny faced the device which would irrevocably change his life. It was a ghost portal, very similar to the one which had transformed him in the first place, and he had some idea of what to expect as a result. There would be pain. Lots of it. But he could handle that. It was his duty, to reign in a being that wouldn't even exist had he not been so foolish as to get transformed in the first place.

His friends and family stood around him but he tried to blank out their existence from his awareness and focus solely on his younger self who once again was in ghost form.

"Okay, kid," he said to the teenager, "You ready for this?"

"I'm ready," the younger Danny replied, not a trace of humor in his face. "But do me a favor and don't turn evil, okay? I really don't want to have to fight you."

"I'll do my best," he retorted, equally serious. "But if I do – no pulling punches, okay? Take me down. Permanently."

"Understood."

They shook hands and Danny noted for the first time how strange it felt to shake the hand of a ghost.

Only now did he have the courage to look at those around him.

"Let's do this then," he said, wanting it to be over.

Maddie rushed over to him and encased him in a fierce hug.

"You won't lose yourself, Danny. I know it."

"We all know it, dude," said Tucker, sounding so much like his younger self. His nonchalance hid his great fear that he would lose his best friend so soon after finding him.

Danny locked eyes with Sam and gave her a small smile. Then he turned to face his destiny. Without hesitation, he walked into the portal and stood stoic and determined as the safety doors closed, encasing him in.

He closed his eyes and counted to ten in his head as he had been instructed and waited, his heart in his throat, for the pain to start.

He heard the crackling of electricity and smelt the ectoplasm before the pain hit and those triggers caused him to tense up in the expectation of pain. He wasn't disappointed. The pain rushed through him so fiercely he thought he would die from it, and he fell to the ground despite his best-laid plan to bear up against the pain standing. He hadn't wanted his loved ones to see him in pain and he thought if he could fake it he could spare them the experience.

Malevolence flooded his awareness and an overriding urge to hunt, main and kill began to try to write itself into his own neural pathways. He saw in his mind's eye the face of those who loved and believed in him. He was the master of himself, not Phantom and he would not submit to Phantom's will. He would die first before allowing it. Phantom's malevolence forcibly created additional pain along his neural pathways and he defiantly fought against the incursion of Phantom's desires and forced them downward and into oblivion.

After a long struggle for control, Danny's will proved stronger than the joined Plasmius/Phantom entities will and before long he could feel the malevolence and rage fade away like a distant echo of a cry he wasn't sure had ever been uttered. He felt instead the old familiar weight of 'Danny Phantom' inside of him, and it was a comforting sensation. This is who he was, who he had always been meant to be, and the desire to kill and torture was gone. Plasmius was gone from the fusion and all that was left was Danny Phantom.

He began to loosen tense muscles as he became aware that the pain was done. But his sense of relief was short-lived as his neural pathways began to absorb the memories of what Phantom had done. These deeds worked their way into his mind and became his very own recollection as if he himself had committed the actions. The pain and guilt was so overwhelming that he began to cry. He could see the faces of those he had tortured and killed. To the monster, it had all been a game. He hadn't even spared the very young.

Awareness of the world around him began to trickle in through his intense misery. He heard the sound of a door opening and looked outwards past the 'Fenton-Shield' that imprisoned him in the portal.

"My god," said Tucker, seeing an older version of 'Danny Phantom' in the portal. He looked how Danny Phantom would have looked if none of this had ever happened. "It – worked?"

With his enhanced ghost abilities, he could feel the fear of those outside the portal. He could hear the increase in heartbeats, the quickening of breath and he remained down, trying hard to control the intensity of his emotional response to the horrors that Phantom committed. A new idea formed in his mind that he would have to somehow convince them all he wasn't dangerous.

"What do you think," whispered *his* Sam to the younger Danny.

Young Danny regarded his older ghostly nervously, glad that he bore very little resemblance to 'Dan Phantom'.

"He looks … normal," said Danny carefully. "He could be tricking us though. Dan Phantom was able to make himself look like me. So – yeah. I got nothing. Hey. Danny?"

The older ghost looked up at his younger self. They could all see the pain in his eyes. It was more than the pain of the fusion, it was a deep emotional pain that told it's own story. The younger Danny understood that pain all too well – he knew how guilty and self-sick the man must now be feeling… Danny himself had felt that when he had first became aware of 'Dan Phantom'.

"I think he's- okay," he said carefully. "But – if I'm wrong…"

"It's him," said the older-Sam, placing her hands on the Fenton ghost shield. "I'm sure of it."

"It could be a trick," young Danny repeated, only to have her turn on him with fury in her eyes.

Young Danny backed away slightly from her, causing Sam to feel a rush of remorse towards the teen.

"I'm sorry," she said. "You have the right to believe that."

"How can we know for sure," asked Lancer, not caring that he might be making Sam angry. This was a life or death situation and he wasn't going to let emotionalism cloud their judgment.

"I know for sure," Sam asserted. "This is Danny. I'd like to know what Danielle thinks."

Danielle had remained apart from the crowd. She had been prepared to fight if the fusion failed but she knew right now she likely wasn't a welcome part of the crowd. Sam's question startled her. She hadn't expected her opinion to be credible after what she had done.

"I think it's him," she said softly. "I don't sense Plasmius at all."

"That's saying something," said Jazz, "Since Vlad created you. I would imagine you would know when he's around."

The older Danny Phantom rose elegantly to his feet with the grace he always had as a ghost. He could sense the increasing nervousness of those who watched him, with the exception of Sam who was gazing at him with an expression of pure acceptance and love. Although he wanted to transform into his human form, he remained as a ghost so as not to seem as though he was trying to lower their guard.

"Danny," asked Lancer, "How do you feel?"

"Lousy," he said, "But it worked. We defeated Plasmius."

"We?"

"The part of 'Phantom' that had once been a part of me. I could feel him helping me fight against Plasmius."

"Your original ghost half was imprinted with your personality – it had your sense of right and wrong," said Jazz. "Plasmius must have overridden its own free will aided by the depression you must had been feeling at believing yourself to be alone in the world."

Danny looked at his sister and shook his head.

"I don't know how it all works. I just know that I'm back and he's gone."

"How can we be sure," asked Valerie who had remained quiet the entire time the proceedings had gone on. She had been the fiercest detractor to the plan – believing it better to try to kill 'Phantom' rather than this, and now she eyed her former friend with a strong sense of distrust. Phantom had nearly killed her one too many times for her to be trusting.

"I don't know," he sighed. "It's not for me to try to convince you. You have to decide for yourselves."

"What if we decide to leave you in here until we're sure," she asked him, eyeing him carefully. "Say a week or two – maybe longer?"

"Well, I can safely say that would pretty much *suck*, but if that's what it takes… then make sure you find a way to feed me. Maybe get me a book or two to keep me from dying of boredom in here."

"Do we vote on this," asked Jazz.

"No. That's my son," said Maddie. "We let him out."

Danny gently touched the force field with his palm near where his mother was, trying to show by gesture that he appreciated her words and was startled when his hand passed through it. Before anyone could say anything, he stepped through the Fenton-Field.

"Ah. I think it's a moot point," he said to the crowd, noticing that Lancer and Valerie were tensing for a fight. "Dad… your field doesn't work on me."


	11. Chapter 11

The next moments passed by in a flurry of sensation sound and fear.

The click and whine of a weapon turned Danny's dazed attention to Valerie who had swung into action and was aiming a nasty looking weapon directly at him. He forced himself to remain calm and he returned her gaze evenly, trying not to spook her. This was no easy task given that Valerie's body language spoke of fury, hatred and an overriding determination to kill him.

Danny suddenly gasped and staggered as memories of past encounters between Valerie and Phantom flooded his mind. His sudden movement only served to fuel Valerie's already high state of agitation and she tensed to fire. Dimly he heard screams, but they faded away as he was assaulted by ugly memories of the past.

Danny was barely aware of his surroundings anymore, and he hardly even saw the woman in front of him as she currently was. Images of her bound, burned and broken at his feet filled his gaze. He could smell her burnt flesh and even taste her blood – Phantom had hurt this woman many times in many horrible ways, choosing torture every time over death, allowing his pitiful enemy to live another day so he could relish the chase, capture and torture another time. Danny unknowingly brought his hands up to his ears and began to curl in on himself, trying to push away the sensations. He could hear her screams and they echoed with the shouting going on the room around him. Worse, he heard Phantom's dark laughter echoing in his own ears – or even perhaps his soul. He wondered how much of the monster truly remained in his own psyche. Would he forever be trying to fight it back?

Nausea overwhelmed him and he remained as he was, trying to regain control of his senses. The horror that overtook him threatened at his very sanity.

As the sensations finally subsided, he began to take in his surroundings once again and gently unfurled himself so he floated in a standing position.

Valerie was still poised to kill. She faced him, strong, alert and determined. No matter how many times Phantom had harmed her, he had never come close to breaking her. In the face of her deadly poise, Danny felt a surge of unworthiness. Her bravery eclipsed any he had ever shown during his stint as 'hero'.

Danny briefly noted that Maddie and Sam had thrust themselves between Danny and Valerie in a brave attempt at saving his life. He felt a pained mix of joy and dismay at their actions. A monster like Phantom was better off dead and Danny knew that for sure now.

He turned intangible for a moment and floated away from the two women, giving Valerie a clear shot.

"You should kill me," he finally said, grateful that his voice didn't sound like Phantom's if only to spare Valerie the additional pain of hearing her old tormentor. "After everything he did. You should kill me. You have the chance, why don't you take it?"

Valerie gasped at the familiar phrasing. Phantom had taunted her so many times with her inability to stop him. Danny's words could easily be interpreted as mockery, but the desperation in his voice gave her pause. And it was _his_ voice. Danny's, and not 'Dan' and the hybrid in front of her clearly radiated despair instead of menace.

The girl Valerie had been was long gone. Valerie, the woman, was ice. And she was determination. She would do what had to be done, and she would relish doing it under the right circumstances. But something old and forgotten from her past began to flare inside her – a tiny flicker of hope that the nightmare might finally be over. She relentlessly shoved it aside. Allowing hope into her heart would only lead to her own destruction because the loss of it once again would destroy her determination. Although she appeared strong and fully in control, Valerie was deeply broken.

"You don't want to tempt me," she warned him, her voice deadly.

"Yes, I do," he said, watching the despair on his mother's face from the corner of his eyes. He couldn't even bring himself to look at Sam. He was endlessly grateful that Phantom had never known that Sam still lived. "I remember every one of our past encounters," he said, his expression showing his horror at the idea.

Blood rushed from her face. The idea that he was reminding her of the terrible torture Phantom had inflicted on her renewed her resolve to kill him.

"And how does that make you feel," she asked, a sickening parody of a therapists directive questioning.

"Sickened."

"Hope you mean that figuratively," muttered the young Tucker. "I'd hate to have to help clean up ecto-barf."

Young Danny had been transfixed and horrified by the tableau in front of him and Tucker's comment struck him as disproportionately funny. Both teens shared a look and began to attempt suppressing their very inappropriate laughter.

The mood broke slightly as Valerie cast a quick look their way.

Seeing Danny so young and innocent brought back that flicker of hope and she looked to his ghostly self, desperate to believe that the halfa was what he once was.

She was shocked to see that he had turned human again and was standing facing her, completely exposed to her weapon should she choose to use it.

"I won't defend myself," he told her.

She fought against her anger. She wanted her enemy to fight her back. For him to wait for his death made her feel like the monster even though she knew that he should die.

"If you kill him," said Sam, "I'll kill you. Have no doubt about that."

"Sam," she said desperately, "It could be a trick."

"That's Danny," Sam asserted. "I'd know him anywhere."

"Wishful thinking," Valerie snapped.

"How are we going to even know," said Lancer. "We can't ever really be sure."

"We can put a device on Danny that prevents him from transforming," said Jazz, looking at her brother apologetically. "It will cause you pain if you try, but it would at least give those who don't trust you a chance to figure things out."

"I'd be happy to wear that thing for the rest of my life," Danny said wholeheartedly. "But how would you truly know it works? I could fake that too."

"I've tested it," said Danielle quietly.

"I think I'm a lot stronger than you are," Danny responded.

"What about me," asked the younger Danny. "I may not be as strong as you are, but I am pretty strong."

"It's up to Valerie," said the older Danny surprising everyone. "It's her choice. If she wants me dead, then she gets to kill me. Otherwise, I wear the dampening device. I'll even try to transform while wearing it to test it out."

"You'd love that, wouldn't you? If I chose to kill you. How do I know you won't just attack me?"

"Only one way to find out," he said calmly.

"And if you are truly the 'good' Danny and I kill you, I incur the wrath of your loved ones."

"That's not what I'm looking for," said Danny. "I wish you nothing more than peace. But I can't deny that of everyone you have the strong reason to despise me and wish me dead."

"My death won't serve anything," Valerie said angrily. "I want the boy to test the deflector. If it works on him, I'll go along with this. For now."

"That *boy* is my son," said the younger Maddie angrily. "And you could at least look him in the eye when you ask him to do something painful."

Valerie reddened at the woman's rebuke and turned to face the child.

"Sorry, kid," she said gruffly, trying not to soften her heart at the sight of him so young and innocent.

"No problem," he said, uncomfortable by her gaze. "Hey, the sooner we solve this problem, the sooner we all get to go home."


End file.
